10.1177/1050651918816355">
 

About face: Reflexively considering “audience” in hiring situations

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

Department/School

English Language and Literature

Publication Title

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Abstract

Using data from 88 students, 20 advisers, and 24 hirers about U.S. résumés, this article focuses on face of the company, the concept of employers' evaluating how well applicants might represent a company. The results of applying rhetorical listening’s identification–disidentification to “face” suggested two outcomes and their implications. First, primary audiences invoked secondary audiences to the point in which they conflated, suggesting that résumés should incorporate secondary audiences. Second, hirers sometimes violated their own beliefs about diversity hiring because of audiences they invoked, suggesting that because invoking audience can perpetuate inequitable hiring practices, hirers should be more nuanced about the audiences they choose.

Link to Published Version

10.1177/1050651918816355

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